LOW costs of tea on the local market fetch viewed farmers in Honde Valley abandoning the cut for other cash vegetation.

Despite potentialities of a first rate harvest this season, tea producers in Honde Valley are slowly giving up.

The in the neighborhood readily available purchaser for Honde Valley tea growers, Jap Highlands Plantations, is reportedly procuring a kilogramme of tea for $11,56, which farmers mutter is now now not ample to masks manufacturing expenses.

On the enviornment market, tea sells at US$2,76 per kg.

Honde Valley has been receiving most attention-grabbing rainfall this season and the fresh cut is thriving, but many farmers fetch stopped harvesting, citing depressed costs.

Tea farmers in Honde Valley can perfect sell to 1 processor, Jap Highlands Plantations, since all other processors in the dwelling folded nearly a decade ago.

Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union Tea Commodity chairman, Mr Charles Sanhanga, who is also a member of the Honde Valley Tea Growers’ Association, said their tea became fetching $11,56 per kg, which became now now not ample.

“We fetch a truly most attention-grabbing cut this year despite the dumb birth as much as the rainfall season. However the tea is now overgrown due to the farmers are picking now to now not carry their cut to the factory attributable to the low costs we’re getting. We’re in actuality concentrated on our banana and maize fields for the rationale that return is plan larger,” he said.

Tea is at point to priced at US$2,76 on the enviornment market, (roughly $289,80) and the costs being offered to local producers remains plan below these benchmarks.

True thru high season (November to April) farmers in the dwelling invent a median of 200 000kg a month. Nonetheless, manufacturing has enormously declined in the past two years basically attributable to depressed pricing and excessive ticket of fertilisers and labour.

Mr Sanhanga said farmers had engaged the processor with the hope of getting segment of their cash in foreign change since they were procuring fertiliser and paying workers in United States greenbacks.

He said the proper resolution now could well presumably be for farmers to diversify while they work on acquiring their very fetch processing plant for price addition.

“Even supposing tea is the important thing source of profits for us, perfect these which are rising other vegetation for different sources of profits are safe. We have shifted our attention to the banana and maize vegetation as we await a overview of costs,” he added.